Mobile Harbour Cranes

Liebherr annual turnover soars

In 2012 Liebherr Mobile Harbour Cranes achieved the highest annual turnover in history. In addition to this remarkable success, Liebherr received the IBJ Innovative Technology Award and the State Prize Clean Technology Austria, acknowledgements for its innovative strength and environmental awareness. Moreover, Liebherr reached a remarkable milestone with the delivery of its 1000th mobile harbour crane.

Liebherr has received the Innovative Technology Award for its LHM Noise-Control Initiative at the IBJ Awards 2012. This initiative comprises a number of technical solutions implemented to achieve significant noise reduction. Additionally, Dr Isolde Liebherr was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in order to honour the positive influence of her life’s work on the global bulk industry. Both awards underline Liebherr’s outstanding competence in the field of maritime cargo handling, which has already been proven by three consecutive wins in the Crane of the Year category from 2009 to 2011.

In May, the State Prize Clean Technology Austria was presented to Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH. The world leader in the mobile harbour crane sector convinced the jury with Pactronic® – the first hydraulic hybrid drive for cranes and construction machinery to achieve increased handling performance with reduced fuel consumption.

These awards emphasise Liebherr’s remarkable innovative strength which is the result of a continuous commitment to research and development. Today Liebherr Nenzing employs more than 230 technical engineers in the fields of research and development, technical design and all fields of drive technology. In close proximity to the customer, Liebherr will continue to explore new ways ensuring that its mobile harbour cranes will remain the most innovative available on the market.

More than 1000 deliveries worldwide

Liebherr relies on nearly 40 years of experience in the mobile harbour crane business. In 1994, 20 years after market entry, Liebherr delivered its 100th LHM. In 2005, the 500th LHM started operation. Just a few years later this impressive figure could even be doubled. Thus, thanks to a continuously rising demand for flexible and efficient cargo handling solutions Liebherr accomplished a major milestone in 2012. The 1000th LHM, type LPS 550, was delivered to Montoir Bulk Terminal (MBT) located at the French Atlantic coast. Equipped with the powerful and energy-saving Pactronic® hybrid drive system, the crane is going to play a major role in the cargo handling chain of the terminal in order to increase turnover efficiency.

LHM 420 proves popular

Launched in March 2011, the LHM 420 has already experienced high market acceptance. Today, Liebherr’s latest model, capable of up to 124 tonnes, represents the second most in demand Liebherr Mobile Harbour Crane with 18 deliveries worldwide in 2012 alone, which equates to 19% of all LHMs supplied last year. Generally speaking, the LHM 550 has retained its position as best-selling model accounting for almost 45% of last year’s deliveries.

Sales review and outlook

Although the economic environment has been bumpy and a bunch of issues, like the excessive public depth in several countries worldwide, needs to be resolved, Liebherr truly succeeded in 2012. Liebherr delivered 94 mobile harbour cranes worldwide and achieved the highest annual turnover in history: 291 million euro. Compared to 2011 this is a plus of nearly 11%.

Due to their flexibility regarding application and efficiency in cargo handling, Liebherr Mobile Harbour Cranes are globally recognised as a solid investment. For that reason more and more customers opt for these state-of-the-art machines.

A notable trend towards bigger and stronger machines is still evident. Comparing the deliveries of 2011 and 2012 clearly underlines this tendency. In 2011, every fourth delivery was a member of the lightweight mobile harbour crane family, covering all types up to LHM 320. In 2012, the share of the lightweight range has dropped to 19%.

With regard to the regional distribution of deliveries, Europe (including Russia) is by far the biggest market accounting for more than 40% with 38 LHMs delivered, a significant plus of 12 cranes compared to 2011. The African market also showed a very positive development accounting for over 21% (20 LHMs), a plus of eight machines. Thanks to this strong demand, Liebherr achieved another important milestone last year, supplying the 100th LHM to Africa in March 2012. Deliveries to Latin America (16%, 15 LHMs) and India (13%, 12 LHMs) remained stable on a high level. Additionally, LHMs deliveries to customers in North America, Asia, Middle East and Oceania emphasise the global importance of sophisticated mobile harbour cranes.

In 2013, many countries around the globe expect a higher GDP growth which may result in a higher global trade volume and additional investments in port equipment. As the LHM order backlog is very promising, Liebherr is optimistic that the demand for its state-of-the-art mobile harbour cranes will remain on a high level and that 2013 will be another strong year for the mobile harbour crane sector.